An Investigation into Online Purchase Intention for Gift Stores: with Special Reference to Colombo Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Online Gift stores have become very popular among the gift seekers in Sri Lanka today. At present, as online shopping has become highly popular, it was a curiosity that whether gift seekers tend to purchase gift items via an online platform. Additionally, a preliminary descriptive survey was also done in order to identify the characteristics of the problem. From the rigorous literature made, the knowledge of emphasized objects and research gaps were captured. The study's key purpose was to identify the impact of customers' trust on the online gift stores and have focused on the problem; five objectives and research questions consistent with those objectives were also associated. The research design was both exploratory and descriptive, and the approach was deductive reasoning. Online questionnaires of which reliability was tested via pilot study were administered among most respondents, and those who had technological issues were addressed via emailing and telephone discussions. Secondary sources were also associated for more information. The sample size specified under the convenience sampling method consisted of 220 respondents of the Colombo metropolitan area covering 20 cities. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, including descriptive tools such as percentages and graphical illustrations and correlation and multiple regression analyses, were applied. It was identified that purchase intention is impacted by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and social commerce via trust. The majority (more than 90%) of recipients expect closeness to stores in ordering gifts. The present study conveys some timely, important suggestions and related researchable areas too.